National News

£12m to help victims of crime

More than £12 million is being invested to help victims of crime through a range of technologies and special service.

The money from Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) is to be used on body-worn cameras to support victims of racial hate crime and get evidence of new incidents, along with a specially designed audiovisual system to comfort young victims of sexual abuse during medical examinations and dedicated counselling for victims of female genital mutilation (FGM).

Victims of sexual and domestic abuse and hate crimes are among those who will be helped as the money, funded from the victim surcharge and increased penalty notices for disorder paid by offenders, is split across a range of local projects across England and Wales.

The share-out includes £12,000 for an interactive system to support young sexual violence victims in a newly established sexual assault reference centre in Suffolk; £35,000 for discreet body-worn cameras for people who are being racially abused at work in Merseyside; and £1.2 million to support young victims of crime, and support for vulnerable or persistently targeted victims of fraud or other economic crimes in London.

Some of the other projects to benefit include a rural rape crisis centres in Dyfed Powys, Wales, which is to get more than £120,000 and £150,000 is to be spent on improving support for victims with mental health problems in Cambridgeshire.

Victims' minister Damian Green said he had "no doubt" the funds would be used to make a difference to victims up and down the country.